Thursday, December 4, 1919

Fair cool day. To College 9-12:30 M. Studied in P.M. Down street. Bowled at Star [drawing of star]. To Kappa Sigma Pi meeting in evening. To Star Alleys to watch bowling. Shot pool. Up after Ruth. To bed 11 P.M. Thankful.

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This is the first mention I've seen of Stanford's playing pool. He doesn't say where it was--perhaps at the Star Alleys--but in looking up pool halls in 1919 I came across a story of a billiards champion by the name of Frank Taberski, who was born in Amsterdam, NY and became a local legend by age 16. Here is an excerpt from an article about him by R. A. Dyer in the online magazine, Billiards Digest:

So first let's dispense with the background. Taberski, who was born on March 15, 1889, exhibited very early in his life a seriousness of purpose beyond that of most other boys. He began shooting pool at age 13 in his hometown of Amsterdam, New York, and by age 16 was already the Central New York champion. Taberski also drove a milk cart during these early years, and then built upon that 3 a.m. -to-noon job to create his own grocery business. At age 22 Taberski sold his business for $10,000, a princely sum, and invested in poolrooms. By 1916 he owned three of them.

Frank Taberski at work

As Mr. Dyer states,

From September of 1916 until January of 1918 [Taberski] was unbeatable. Taberski won the national championship during his first year as a professional - an unprecedented feat - and then emerged victorious in nine successive challenge matches. But he was undone by his own slowness. Fed up with Taberski's style of play, tournament promoters in 1918 began enforcing time limits. By speeding up the game, they slowed Taberski's rush to greatness - and ushered in the era of Greenleaf.

Apparently, one of the pool halls Frank built was in Schenectady. According to the Schenectady Historical Society's Grems-Doolittle Library Collection blog,

In the late 1920s, he opened his own bowling alley and pool hall at the intersection of Broadway and State Street in Schenectady. The building stood for forty years before burning down in the 1960s. Frank married a woman from Poland named Loretta, and together they had three sons. Taberski died on October 23, 1941 at the age of fifty-two.

In 1920, Frank Taberski lived at 25 Bridge Street and is listed in the 1920 census as being a Merchant at a Pool Place. He was married by then to Loretta; they had two sons, Frank Jr. and Harold.